Former Bayelsa State Governor Henry Seriake Dickson on Wednesday welcomed a new wave of political figures into the National Democratic Coalition (NDC).
The defector included Senator Mohammed Hassan of Yobe State and High Chief Peter Ojemen of Edo State.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, 6 May, Dickson said he received the defectors alongside Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
He described the NDC as an "ideological political party" focused on service-driven politics and said it was not set up to weaken or divide other opposition parties.
"From inception, our goal has been to provide an alternative platform, an umbrella now for all opposition parties and well-meaning Nigerians," he said, citing what he called a "strangulating and suffocating political environment" under the APC-led government since 2015.
Dickson said the NDC’s doors were open to members of other opposition parties and even to aggrieved members of the ruling party, stressing that Nigerians had the constitutional right to join any political party without coercion or intimidation.
He assured new members of fairness and respect within the party.
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The former governor also urged NDC supporters to avoid attacking other opposition leaders, calling on them to see parties such as the ADC and APM as part of "one political family."
He made a similar appeal to supporters of other opposition groups to refrain from rhetoric that damages the reputation of NDC members.
He stressed the country faced serious challenges defined by "intimidation, persecution and victimisation from key institutions of government," and called for unity, sacrifice and collective action through a proposed National Salvation Programme to "rescue the nation from the failed policies of the APC-led government."
Dickson directed NDC leaders at zonal, state and local government levels to accommodate all those seeking to join the party, saying "the NDC belongs to all Nigerians."
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